Paedophile Could be Free in Under 7 Years

A ‘pathetic’ sentence for a convicted paedophile who struck again after being released from jail early has re-ignited the row over soft sentencing. Malcolm Clifford Elliott, 37, subjected a 14-year-old boy to a degrading sexual attack after overpowering the teenager as he took a shortcut home through woodland. Elliott was on conditional release from jail after being freed five months earlier. The serial paedophile had served just HALF of his 10-year sentence for indecently assaulting a four-year-old boy in 2000. Amazingly, despite being sentenced to life, he could be free again in just six years and nine months because of his early guilty plea.

The victim’s parents today joined campaigners against the early release of prisoners in demanding an end to soft sentencing and early release.

The 14-year-old’s mum said: ‘He should never be let out.

‘This did not happen late at night, it happened at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in broad daylight.

‘Obviously he is a danger to all children and no-one is safe with him around.

‘It has been terrible for us all, especially for my son, but now he can begin getting on with his life again.’

The Home Office today expressed its sympathies to the family of Elliott’s victim and promised that the sentencing of serious offenders was being reviewed.

At Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court yesterday, Judge John Curran was forced to follow the same sentencing guidelines followed by the Cardiff judge who sentenced Craig Sweeney to six years for his attack on a three-year-old girl.

Giving credit for his guilty plea and taking into account the automatic release halfway through the sentence, Judge Curran said Elliott would have to serve a minimum of six years and nine months. But the judge warned he believes Elliott will present a serious and continuing danger to young boys for some time to come and would have to face a parole board hearing before being released.

Elliott, also know as Lawrence, was living in an aftercare hostel in Cardiff when he committed the offences.

The court heard how last October he followed the boy into a wooded area in Pontypridd used as a short cut, overpowered him from behind and got him to the ground.
Putting a hand over his mouth he told him he’d kill him if he screamed – the boy did scream out and Elliott punched him in the face.

Resisting, the boy pleaded ‘please don’t rape me’.

Elliott replied he wasn’t going to – and then subjected him to the depraved assaults.

The sick beast then ASKED if he could keep the boy’s boxer shorts before THREATENING him, saying he would kill him if he told anyone what happened.

The ordeal lasted just 15 minutes and Elliott gave the terrified boy a hug before telling him to walk off in the opposite direction. ‘He was incredibly upset, as anyone could image,’ said prosecutor Huw Evans.

A woman walking her dog saw the boy in distress and had to walk him home. He told his mother what had happened.

Elliott, who initially denied the offence, was caught because his DNA was found at the scene.

Defending, Eugene Egan said Elliott was himself abused as a child and that his guilty plea was his sole mitigation. ‘He is someone who clearly has a problem.

‘He has a low or borderline-low IQ and his life had been pitted with problems from the start.’

Describing the offences as grave, Judge John Curran said an earlier sex offender treatment programme clearly had no effect.

Stressing he had imposed a sentence of life imprisonment, Judge Curran said: ‘It is not any kind of certificate from this court that the defendant should be released after six years and nine months.

‘I share the view of the probation officer that in this case he will remain a serious and continuing danger to young boys for the foreseeable future.’

An order was made disqualifying Elliott, who had pleaded guilty to causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, from working with children.

Shocking catalogue of offences against children

In 1983, Elliott was given a two-year supervision order at Blackwood Juvenile Court for an indecent assault on a two-year-old girl.

In August 1987, he was placed on probation for three years at Blackwood Magistrates’ Court for indecent assaults on two boys, aged 14 and 15, at a factory unit on the St David’s Industrial Estate, Pengam, and attacking police officers trying to arrest him.

In April 1989, at Cardiff Crown Court, he was given a 150-hour community service order for a wounding offence – he pushed a glass into someone’s face.

In February 1991, at Aylesbury Crown Court, for indecent assault on an eight-year-old boy and a separate assault charge, he was sentenced to a total of 30 months, suspended for two years.

In February 1997, at Swansea Crown Court, he was jailed for 42 months for indecent assault on a boy under 14.

In August 2000, at Swansea Crown Court, he was jailed for 10 years for a serious indecent assault on a four-year-old boy.